'Britain can't sink any lower than this': Fury of American relatives as report reveals UK did 'all it could' to release Lockerbie bomber

'He should have died in jail': Cameron blasts Labour over Megrahi's release

American families who lost relatives in the Lockerbie crash condemned the British government for telling ‘a pack of lies’ over the release of the man responsible for the bombing today.

An official report unveiled in London today showed that the former Labour government did 'all it could' to help Libya secure the release of the Abdel Baset al Megrahi, convicted of blowing up a Pan Am jet in 1988.

The report found no evidence that ministers applied any pressure on Scottish officials to free the prisoner - but its conclusions were damning enough.

The damaged aircraft cockpit of Pan Am 103 that exploded killing 270 people

Megrahi - the only man convicted in the attack, which killed
270 people - was freed from a Scottish prison in August 2009 on the
ground that he had cancer and only a short time to live. He is still
alive.

The Labour
government - first led by Tony Blair, then Gordon Brown - denied
responsibility for the release, saying it was the sole decision of
Scotland's regional government.

British Prime Minister David Cameron accused Labour of 'insufficient consideration' over the release, saying Megrahi should have died in jail.

Relatives of Americans who died in the explosion also voiced their anger.

Eileen Monetti, 64, whose 20-year-old student son Rick died, said: ‘This is another awful blow for the families who have lost loved ones.

‘Our faith in the British government evaporated when Megrahi was released but this proves they have been lying all along.

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Former Prime Minister Tony Blair meeting Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi at his desert base south of Tripoli in 2007.
The Labour government - first led by Blair, then Gordon Brown - denied responsibility for the release, saying it was the sole decision of Scotland's regional government

Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown meeting the Libyan leader at the G8 Summit in L'Aquilla

‘I’m not sure Britain can sink much lower than it has. Just because we suspected this all along doesn’t make it any less painful’.

Mrs Monetti, from Cherry Hill in New Jersey, also disagreed with the report when it said there was no pressure from Whitehall on Scotland.

‘BP talked to the British government who talked to Scotland. This was all about oil and everyone was involved and to say otherwise is a pack of lies,’ she said.

Senator Robert Menendez, Democrat, New Jersey, lost a number of constituents in the crash and has campaigned for years on behalf of the victims’ families.

He said: ‘The UK didn’t just turn a blind eye to Megrahi’s release – they cut deals that set the terrorist free.

‘The UK and Scottish governments’ repeated denials, even when confronted by specific and compelling evidence, get more ludicrous by the day.

‘It is time that these governments launch independent investigations into the matter and put the wheels in motion to return al-Megrahi to prison.’

David Cameron today accused the previous Labour government of 'insufficient consideration' over Libya's efforts to secure the release of Lockerbie bomber al-Megrahi. But Labour leader Ed Miliband countered: 'The message of today's report is that Mr Megrahi's release was not influenced by the UK Government.'

Britain's Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell has found that Labour did 'all it could' to facilitate Libya in its appeal to the Scottish government to release Megrahi on compassionate grounds.

In a statement to MPs, Mr Cameron said: 'Insufficient consideration was given to the most basic question of all - was it really right for the British government to facilitate an appeal by the Libyans to the Scottish government in the case of an individual who was convicted of murdering 270 people, including 43 British citizens and 190 Americans and 19 other nationalities?

'That for me is the biggest lesson of this entire affair. For my part I repeat, I believe it was profoundly wrong.'

PRIME MINISTER: 'He was convicted of the biggest mass
murder in British history, and in my view he should have died in jail.
It was a bad decision, and the last government should have condemned it
rather than going along with it'

The Prime Minister said Sir Gus's
review did not justify calls for a new inquiry but provided further
evidence it was a 'flawed decision' by the Scottish Executive.

Mr Cameron ordered Sir Gus to carry out a review of the papers following his visit to the United States last year.

In his report, Sir Gus said: 'Policy
was, therefore, progressively developed that HMG should do all it could,
while respecting devolved competencies, to facilitate an appeal by the
Libyans to the Scottish government for Mr Megrahi's transfer under the
PTA (Prisoner Transfer Agreement) or for release on compassionate
grounds.'

The PM quoted from a Foreign Office
paper dated January 2009: 'We now need to go further and work actively
but discreetly to ensure that Megrahi is transferred back to Libya under
the PTA or failing that released on compassionate grounds.'

Mr Cameron told MPs: 'Frankly, this
tells us something that was not made clear at the time. It goes further
than the account that the former Prime Minister and the former foreign
secretary gave.

'We weren't told about facilitating an appeal, about facilitating contact or game plans.'

ED MILIBAND: 'The report makes clear there's no
evidence "UK interests played a part in Mr Megrahi's release by the
Scottish Government on compassionate grounds".' ..... 'Sir Gus concludes
Mr Megrahi's release on compassionate grounds was a decision Scottish
ministers alone could and did make'

He added: 'Honourable Members will be
able to study the paperwork and consider these issues for themselves.
However, I do not believe that these papers justify calls for a new
inquiry.

'What they do provide is further evidence that this was a flawed decision by the Scottish Executive, which we knew already.

'And they point to some broader lessons from this affair.

'It is clear from these papers that
the last government badly underestimated - and in fact failed seriously
even to consider, except as an issue to be managed - the reaction both
in Britain and in the United States to the release of Mr Megrahi, above
all amongst many of the families who lost loved ones.'

The PM said the fact that Megrahi was
now 'living at liberty' in Tripoli, 18 months on, underlined his belief
that the Scottish government's decision was 'profoundly wrong'.

Mr Cameron said: 'I have not altered
my view, which I expressed at the time, which is that I thought that
releasing Mr Megrahi was a very bad decision.

'He was convicted of the biggest mass
murder in British history, and in my view he should have died in jail.
It was a bad decision, and the last government should have condemned it
rather than going along with it.'

He told MPs he had commissioned the
review during a visit to Washington last July, when there was 'renewed
controversy' around the decision, including calls for a UK inquiry.

Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell has found that Labour did 'all it could' to facilitate Libya in its appeal to the Scottish government to release Megrahi on compassionate grounds

'There were concerns being put
forward, quite forcibly in America, that the whole release may have come
about as a result of pressure by BP on the British government to
pressure the Scottish government to make this happen,' the PM said.

'I don't believe that's true. And
this report shows it's not true. It was a decision taken by the Scottish
Government, the wrong decision, but their decision nevertheless.'

But he added: 'The message of today's report is that Mr Megrahi's release was not influenced by the UK Government.'

Mr Miliband described Sir Gus's report as 'serious and thorough' and identified three 'significant conclusions'.

Mr Miliband said: 'First, the UK
Government was worried about the impact on British interests of Mr
Megrahi dying in jail - precisely as the former foreign secretary said
in a statement to this House on October 12, 2009.

"The report makes clear there's no
evidence 'UK interests played a part in Mr Megrahi's release by the
Scottish Government on compassionate grounds'."

He added Sir Gus found the Labour Government took 'great effort not to communicate to the Scottish government its view'.

He added: 'What today's report should
remind us is that the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 must live in the
memory of this country and the United States. We must take all steps to
ensure it never happens again.'

He said comparisons between
ministerial statements in summer 2009 and positions set out in papers
released today showed MPs 'weren't really given a complete picture'.

Disgraceful: Mass-murderer Megrahi climbs aboard a plane to freedom in Glasgow, August 2009

The Prime Minister said: 'It's clear
to me those who think there was some sort of conspiracy cooked up
between BP, the British Government and the Scots to release Megrahi -
that's not right.

'It was a Scottish decision by the Scottish Government - in my view, mistaken.'

Tory former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind (Kensington) said the last government 'was up to its neck in this shoddy business'.

He said: 'I have always been appalled by the release of the convicted murderer.

'You have drawn attention to the conclusion of the Cabinet Secretary when he says that the previous government wished to do all within its power to facilitate the release of Mr Megrahi.

'Is it not the case that documents released today show that in pursuit of that objective a Foreign Office minister met with his Libyan ministerial counterpart, offered to send details of how release on compassionate grounds might be obtained and indeed wrote to his ministerial colleague on October 18 2008?

'Does this not confirm the previous government was up to its neck in this shoddy business, that it was desperate to see the release of Mr Megrahi and it must therefore share responsibility with the Scottish Government for one of the most foolish and shameful decisions of recent years?'

Mr Cameron said Sir Malcolm brought his usual 'mixture of experience and precision' to the Commons chamber.

He said: 'We were told by the last government what they did not want - the death of Megrahi in a Scottish prison - but we weren't told what they did want which was the facilitation of his release and that comes over and over again.

'In the end this man was convicted of the largest mass murder in British history. That should have been the thought coursing through ministerial veins and brains when they wrote those memos and made those speeches.'

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Lockerbie bomber: Fury of US relatives after UK did 'all it could' to release Megrahi